Official blog of the Sacramento Progressive Alliance, the Central Valley's largest grassroots progressive organization with more than 5,000 members

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Tom Torakson for Superintendent of Public Instruction

There are three candidates for Superintendent who have any reasonable chance to win; Gloria Romero, Tom Torlakson, and Larry Aceves.

Romero and Torlakson have similar advantages and disadvantages. They are both termed out legislators seeking a new position, not leaders in education. A prior post examined Romero’s role and position.

While the eduwonks (who do not work in schools) and Romero continue their efforts and California achievement scores remain stagnant, others blame the economic crisis that California and 42 other states find themselves in.

In Robles-Wong v. California (May 2010) the plaintiffs note: Currently, the state ranks 47th among all states in its per-pupil spending on education, spending $2,856 less per pupil than the national average.

Yet most Californians, according to a recent poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, believe there is not enough state funding going to public schools, and a majority single out K-12 education as the area that they most want to protect from spending cuts.

“We require students to meet high education standards and then deny them the resources they need to meet those standards,” said Jo A.S. Loss, president of the California State PTA. “We must have a system that allows schools to deliver a high-quality education for all children – in good times and in tough times.”

The Governor and elected officials discuss the economic crisis as if the crisis is a neutral act, or as if a natural act- like rain or snow. But, the California school budgets are a disaster not because of some natural phenomena. The sustained crisis was created by the the governor and the state legislature.

This economic crisis was created by finance capital and banking, mostly on Wall Street particularly Chase Banks, Bank of America, Citi Group, AIG, and others – not by teachers and not by students. Finance capital produced a $ 2 trillion bailout of the financial industry, the doubling of US unemployment rate and the loss of 2 million manufacturing jobs in 2008. Fifteen million people are out of work.

Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research says it this way,

"The reality is that we got into this mess because of an overwhelming excess of greed and stupidity on the part of the Wall Street bankers and the people deciding economic policy. We continue to face excessive rates of unemployment because of a continuing reluctance to pursue policies that can restore the economy to health.

Dean Baker

Rather than slash school budgets and lay off teachers, an appropriate response would be to tax the banks and the financial trades. We pay a 8% sales tax in California. There should be at least a 3% tax on sales of stocks and derivatives and financial instruments. Such a tax could fund the schools and slow down the excesses of casino capitalism.

The US less per student than 16 other modern industrialized countries . Moreover, of these, we are the only country that does not actively promote equality of educational opportunity. In the Netherlands, for example, schools receive 25 percent more funding for each lower-income child and 90 percent more funding for each minority child than in the United States (Slavin, 1998). Clearly, schools serving working-class students and cultural minorities fail in large part because our nation refuses to invest in its children.

Our economy needs well-educated workers. We cannot permit schools to continue to fail. When schools succeed for the middle class and fail for working-class students and students of color, schools contribute to a crippling division along economic and racial lines in our society. Schools, as public institutions, must find ways to offer all children equal educational opportunity.

Let us be clear about the reality of schools in our nation. Some middle-class schools could benefit from reform, but most middle-class schools work reasonably well. . Many schools in urban areas, however, are unable to provide the equal educational opportunity called for by our national ideals and by constitutional law. There will be no significant change in the quality of education without substantial new funds allocated to these schools.

Neo liberal reformers lie Ed Voice, although they claim to be influenced by business management theories, miss use recent developments in management theory. They fail to recognize that teacher working conditions are student learning conditions. Most large city schools are highly bureaucratized and control oriented institutions- based upon a high level of control and distrust – as is the federal legislation NCLB. Modern management theory recognizes that in personnel-intensive workplace, control does not work well.

Having explored the conflict between the two legislators, now lets turn to the candidacy of Larry Aceves. Aceves is a retired school superintendent with extensive experience in the classroom and in school management. He is not campaigning for one of the eduwonk projects of instant school reform which we know do not work. His primary supporters are school administrators up and down the state. He clearly has their respect. On the other hand, these administrators are not teachers. Most are former teachers. The teachers’ union endorsements of Toralkson are more impressive.

Aceves represents the argument that what we need currently is an education professional who can lead the state office. He has the experience in educational administration and leadership to make this case. And, as noted, the prior two Superintendents were former elected officials.

The teachers and the children in 85% of the schools need a Superintendent who is knowledgeable about public schools, can lead and provide support. The teachers and the students in the other 15% of schools need a Superintendent who can work with the Obama Administration to develop, fund, and guide a turn around strategy. For most schools, the primary issue at present is the budget and response to the economic crisis. Nothing in Aceves’ interviews nor promotional literature responds to the urgent issue of making the public, the legislature, and the governor understand how the financial crisis is hurting public education.

The protracted economic decline of the Great Recession has had a devastating impact on the California budget and the budgets of our schools. Revenues have continued to plunge and legislatures have made a series of deep cuts. The crisis of state and local budgets, and thus of school budgets, will be even more severe next year when the current economic stimulus runs out.

Both Torlakson and Romero were in the legislature this year and had the opportunity to lead in responding to the budget crisis. Romero respondedby drafting and passing- along with Sen. Darrell Steinberg- ed wonk legislation to respond to Race to the Top.She supported using test scores of students to evaluate teachers, and paying teachers in part on their students’ test scores. Tom Torlakson opposed these measures.They, like other politicians looked the other way and treated the calamitous economic crisis as a natural event, one not caused by specific policies and one not requiring policy responses.

Given the above, if you prefer someone who can deal with the legislature, you should vote for Torlakson. However, do not expect him to be able to gain significant funds for the schools. – It has not happened. It was the governor who responded to the prior law suite Williams v. California.It will take a governor and a positive Superintendent to respond to Robles-Wong v. California.Both major teachers’ unions, CTA and California Federation of Teachers support Torlakson.

If you prefer someone who knows k-12 education well and who could guide and lead the state school bureaucracy, then vote for Aceves.

No comments:

Wecome to the PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE. We are a multi-racial, multi-issue "rainbow coalition" dedicated to the struggle for social justice and peace. Our key priorities include economic justice for working families; equal rights and equal opportunities for all of God's children regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation; international solidarity; humanitarian service; eradicating poverty at home and abroad; environmental protection and sustainable development; and electing progressives to public office and then holding them accountable.

Founded in 2005, we have rapidly grown to more than 5,000 members and have emerged as one of the largest and most active grassroots organizations on the West Coast. We are proud to serve as the local affiliate of United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ), the largest peace and justice coalition in the United States with over 1,400 member groups across the nation. Climb aboard the Progressive Alliance today... the freedom & justice train is leaving the station and we'd love to have you on board with us!